12 October 2008

Bike Theft: La Prueba de la bicicletta

An Argentine artist, Mariano Pasik, has embarked on a fascinating project mixing video art and bicycle theft. He leaves cheap, unlocked bicycles in various neighbourhoods and films them with a hidden camera. He wants to see how long the bicycle can stand there until it is stolen. The film above is about the project.

He emphasises that he doesn't do it to reveal bicycle thieves - he blurs their faces - but rather to gain an idea of how safe the different neighbourhoods are. His hypothesis is - the longer the bicycle remains untouched, the safer the neighbourhood.

He's aiming to make a "bike theft index", inspired by The Economist's 'Big Mac Index'. He puts the video footage, complete with lovely music, of the bike thefts on his website La Prueba de la bicicleta - The Bicycle Trial.

"You can tell from the videos that these aren't professional thieves. These aren't people who left home with intention to steal. It is people who succomb to a temptation and decide to commit a crime. They become thieves first at that moment they steal the bike", says Mariano Pasik.

8 minutes before it's nicked. And by another cyclist.

The results are varied in the videos. Sometimes it takes a couple of minutes before the bike is nicked, sometimes over an hour. So far all the thieves are men. If the bike remains untouched for an hour the neighbourhood 'passes the bike theft test'.

Kilometres cycled by Copenhageners so far today

Copenhagenize.com is the blog of Copenhagenize Design Company. Online since 2007 and highlighting the cycling life in Copenhagen and around the world.

40 years ago Copenhagen was just as car-clogged as anywhere else but now 41% of the population arriving at work or education do so on bicycles, from all over the Metro area. 56% of Copenhageners themselves use bicycles each day. They all use over 1000 km of bicycle lanes in Greater Copenhagen for their journeys. Copenhagenizing is possible anywhere.